Proxima
Proxima was one of the Old Line Colonies; one of the twelve original colonies of Earth and the designated capital of the Capricorn Sector. It was, as one can deduce from its name, the colony nearest Earth, less than 17 light years away. Geography and Climate Proxima was the closest planet to its sun, a world with some Earthlike attributes… an oxygen-rich atmosphere, abundant water, sufficient warmth… but it was also a hot world, and its orange sun burned the sky to a bright coppery color. Although the planet had water sufficient to support life, it had over a third less water by volume than Earth and with much larger expanses of desert. History in Brief Early Colonial Period The first settlers arrived on Proxima in the 23rd solar century. Its proximity to Earth made it a popular destination in the early colonial period and its population grew rapidly despite limited natural resources. The planet had little arable soil, and the original inhabitants had to build very large hydroponic complexes in order to feed themselves. 25th to 28th Solar Century In the 26th century, tensions increased between Proxima and another colony in the Capricorn Sector, Gogova. Gogova was a newer colony, noted for its jungles and rainforests, and it grew to rival Proxima in population and influence, and exceeded Proxima in wealth. Tensions inflamed into war in the 27th Solar Century over the possession of Trinidad, a fertile colony with extensive arable plains. The Galactic Federation (the precursor to the Commonwealth) mediated the dispute, resulting in each planet being given sovereignty over half of Trinidad’s land-mass; infuriating the Proximans and Gogovans who each thought they had exclusive claim, and the Trinidadians, who wanted self-rule (which they won 300 years later under the Commonwealth Accords.) Beginning in the 27th Solar Century, attempts to terraform the planet and make it more habitable commenced. New techniques for processing anaerobic dirt into fertile soil had been developed and vast areas of the planet were made into farmlands. Ice was mined from the outer planets of the Proxima System and transported to Proxima to raise the water content of the biosphere. This led to disaster on at least two occasions. In one incident, a giant iceberg broke up in the atmosphere, and several large fragments fell on the city of New Colon, killing nearly a hundred inhabitants. Another iceberg contained a viral fragment that mutated into a pathogen that infected the planets biosphere and killed thousands of people. Although a treatment was developed, non-inhabitants of Proxima were susceptible to illness from consuming the colony’s water. 29th to 34th Solar Century Proxima, along with the other Inner Colonies, rebelled against Earth-based rule in the 29th Century. The Galactic Federation, seeking to make an example of Proxima, destroyed the capital of New Havana by orbital bombardment. The seat of planetary government was moved to New Santiago, a city surrounded by mountains that provided more natural shelter in the event of attack. In the 30th Century, Proxima became one of the Charter Worlds of the Galactic Commonwealth. The planet, at the time, was under military dictatorship after a serious of disastrous regimes had wrecked the planetary economy. Constant rivalry with Gogova colony resulted in unrest throughout the Capricorn Sector. As a result, Proxima was a weak power during the period of the early Crusades in the 31st through 34th Centuries. The Capricorn Sector was particularly unstable during this period and other colonies… in particular Atlas, Avalon, and Terra Nova… intervened a great deal to fill the power vacuum in Proxima’s absence. The Capricorn Sector was especially vulnerable to the expansionist Scorpion Union when it rampaged across the Inner Commonwealth in the 32nd Solar Century. The Fleet of Capricorn was stood up to defend the worlds of the Capricorn Sector, but Proxima was reluctant to contribute to its manning and upkeep. Gogova, Trinidad, and Santa Maria provided the bulk of its ships and men. The Capricorn Fleet acquitted itself well against the Scorpion Fleet when it made incursions into its territory, but it was not a decisive factor the ultimate defeat of the Scorpion Union. 35th to 40th Solar Century In the 35th Century, Proxima was one of the worlds in which the Iestan-Nova Catholic Alliance (INCA) came to power, placing the planet under the care of the (mostly) benevolent Theocracy for the next four centuries. As a result, Proxima was targeted by anti-religious forces in the 6th Crusade, but the Capricorn Fleet, supported by other INCA worlds (including Santa Maria), coupled with a strong security apparatus on the planet, kept the Theocracy in power; at the cost of increased isolation. Its rival, Gogova, on the other hand, came to be ruled by a blasphemous Overlord (a human who had used technology to equip himself with great power) that called himself “God.” In the 7th and 8th Crusade of the 37th through 38th Solar Centuries, Proxima escaped relatively unscathed although Gogova, its ancient rival, was destroyed when “God” fled the planet and wiped it from existence in a display of vengeance. The INCA alliance had grown corrupt and bloated by the 38th Solar Century. It had fallen out of favor on Vesta two centuries earlier. On Proxima, faced with the threat of being removed from power violently, INCA separated itself from the planet’s political system and attempted to become a strictly religious organization. The regime that replaced it confiscated its land holdings and other economic resources. 41st to 51st Solar Centuries After the Crusades, Proxima enjoyed the Millennium of Peace shared by most of the Commonwealth Worlds. Although it was still the capital world of the Capricorn Sector, and there was a revival in the interest of human unity early in the Millennium, a large Sector Governance Complex was built on Proxima, and called Capricorn City. It served primarily as place of diplomatic, commercial, and cultural exchange. It included a large university complex that was a center of learning for the quadrant. A Starlock was built near Proxima in the 45th Century and was christened Chamorro after one of Proxima’s colonial pioneers and leaders. Proxima was among the first colonies to fall under the Tarmigan onslaught in the 52nd Solar Century. Cities *New Colon *New Havana *New Buenos Aires *New Santiago *Capricorn City Category:Worlds